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Standard pilot/passenger weight ???........................


Guest Maj Millard

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Standard weights are all very well, but which part of my body do I have to remove to be that ideal weight. The Xair has flown with 2 hefty blokes well over the "ideal weight" - I am 110kg, my pass was 105kg - and handled it very well.

 

Plane doesn't seem to fly one side down with only me in it. Still climbing out at 650ft/min at 2100ft. Ideal weights are just that. Imagine an aircraft with 4 passengers, all the calculations done on ideal weights and then having 4 large passengers at 100 plus kg. What does that do to your take off distance, weight and balance and fuel figures. Maybe better off plugging ion real figures if you want to be safe. The ideal will get you killed.

 

 

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[quote="Maj Millard,....So if we go by the recommendations of CASA. It looks like ;

 

average male=86 Kg, average female=71 Kg...as a guideline only.

 

Maj...065_evil_grin.gif.2006e9f40863555e5894f7036698fb5d.gif

 

Just occurred to me MM that these figures reversed are our life expectancy. Now is there a pattern here?

 

 

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I have to go back to solo soon. So being a fat basterd should not be a issue. And if robinsm has not issue in his Xair i should be fine in a sports star.

Not necessarily Shafs. See if you can get me the measurements and I'll show you how to painlessly calculate.

 

 

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Weight and balance... yeah this is a good one for sure. The ideals are as such because it makes it easier and a lot more practical to fly a plane with 100+ passengers, as regularly happens thousands of times a day all round the world. For us, I'd expect to do it on an individual basis also. Standard weights might be fine for fuel and oil, but not for people in this case.

 

I'm a 'strapping young lad' of 6'2"/90kg and am probably on the limit of practicality in most aircraft - a Skyfox Gazelle might be roomy for most but I find it cramped on legroom, and even a Cessna 150 is sub par on shoulder room. My girlfriend is also rather tall, only 2" or so shorter than me, and being polite I haven't asked her for her weight... so assume its equal to mine! Probably a bit harsh but I think its a good rule of thumb - better to overestimate than underestimate in this case!

 

Nev - Interesting on the expectancies; nowdays the average Australian is 79 for males and 84 for females. I believe we're joint 4th highest in the world with only Japan, Iceland and Hong Kong having higher expectancies. A whole lot of factors play into it including lifestyle, diet and genetics. Mostly males live shorter because of risk taking tendancies, high suicide rates (15~25 and then 70+ age brackets particularly), more dangerous work conditions and poorer self-care skills if living alone.

 

EDIT: Weigh/bagge allowances on commercial flights might seem harsh to the lighter people, but if there were no 'light' passengers (light took heavy bags) then there would have to be no heavy passengers either! The plane would most likely also end up with a rear-of-optimal CG condition due to all the useless clothes/souvenirs/junk in peoples heavy bags in the hold/tail.

 

 

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I live in Gympie and the average weight per person is 85 kgNearby Noosa the average weight is 72 kg

Tomo lives in Cecil Plains and if I could get him to stand still I could tell you when it was 2:30

 

 

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Have flown with myself (90kg) and my CFI (95kg) in my Minicab with 40L fuel. Performance wasn't astounding but the plane certainly coped just fine. I believe we would have been right on the MTOW for the aircraft. Balance was within limits but needed almost full forward (down) trim for takeoff, landing and flight.

 

Main thing, I suppose, is that you become familiar with your aircraft and know what it is, and is not, capable of. This includes weight restrictions for all areas and not just the aircraft - eg my Minicab will not tolerate more than 15kg on the parcel shelf and anything else will have to either be on the passenger seat or, if carrying a passenger, in their lap.

 

Another big thing is just learning to pack light - I used to be / still am an avid hiker and know that what you take you need to carry, so lightness is second nature. I can pack (good!) food, water, clothes, shelter, kitchen + toiletries for a few days away and still come in around 15kg. Take away the water and food and we'd be looking more like 10~12kg including the pack. Substitute that with a lightweight military duffel and you'd be thinking more around 9~10kg. Remember, it all adds up!

 

Cheers all

 

 

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Guest Crezzi

Besides the MTOW and (possibly) CoG considerations, many aircraft also have a maximum seat weight limit which may also limit who you can fly.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

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